


I Get Synonymous

by voleuse



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:55:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28264269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: When trouble brews, I don't dare change.Maybelle Parker never believed in standing back.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 51
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	I Get Synonymous

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nope](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nope/gifts).



> Mostly set after _Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse_.

It was a week and a half until Miles showed up at the house again. May was in the living room, which was by then empty of furniture but still sported a few significant holes. 

Miles looked around and winced. "I'm sorry about your house," he said. 

"This isn't the first time I've had a fixer-upper," May replied, "and it probably won't be the last." She steadied the plate glass leaning against the wall--someone was coming the next day to install it. 

He smiled at her. "I can help, you know," he said. "On the weekends and stuff." He paused. "If my parents let me."

"Let me guess," May responded, "you also wanted to see if there are more toys in the shed?"

Miles sheepishly pulled the web-shooters out of his backpack. "These are really awesome," he said. "If you'll show me how to make them, I can--"

"Miles," May said. "Of course you can come by any time. You can use anything Peter used to use."

He brightened. "Even the car?"

"Do you have a license?" May asked. She chuckled as he returned the shooters to his bag, avoiding her eyes. "Come on, I'll show you around the place."

***

A few days later, Miles helped May repaint the living room and half of the kitchen. (His dad had dropped him off this time around. Embarrassed, Miles had muttered, "He's making sure you're not a serial killer or something.") Miles was halfway up the wall, concentrating on the crown molding.

Under a piece of drywall, May found a thick coil--a piece of Doc Ock's suit, broken off during the fight.

"Did you know her?" Miles asked.

"What?" May looked up at Miles; she'd been distracted by the wiring within. 

"Doc Ock," Miles said. He hopped onto the ceiling, as much of a showoff as Peter had been. "When she broke in, you called her Liv."

"Oh. Yeah." May tossed the fragment to Miles, who juggled it with the paintbrush and a roll of tape for a minute. "We went to grad school together."

"Grad school?" Miles had set the painting tools down to look more closely at the coil.

"You think I got all that stuff at a Radio Shack?" May asked.

***

_It was only a couple of weeks into the semester and May had already learned how to sneak into one of the labs. She was halfway through building a satellite transmitter when someone cleared their throat behind her._

_It was...Olivia? May was pretty sure that was her name--they were in a couple of seminars together. The woman smirked. "Did I startle you?"_

_May shrugged, returning to her circuit board. "There aren't a lot of people around at this time of night."_

_"You mean all the kids?" Olivia snorted at May's skeptical look. "Come on," she said. "Neither of us was ever that young."_

_May shook her head. "Are you calling me old, Olivia?"_

_"I'm calling you someone who doesn't spend every other night at that pub on Central." Olivia seated herself next to May. "Satellite transmitter?"_

_May nodded. "A simple one. I wanted to make sure the parts were available before I worked on telemetry."_

_Olivia adjusted her glasses, which had slipped down the bridge of her nose. "What vector do you plan to use?"_

_May looked over at her. "You really want to know?"_

_"Yes." She smiled. "And call me Liv."_

***

May was in the middle of quizzing Miles about the parts of the motorcycle when a sharp beep interrupted his recitation.

"What was that?" Miles asked. He looked over to the main computer console, where a light was blinking. "Trouble?"

"Maybe," May said. "It's one of Peter's special alerts." One of the monitors fuzzed to life, resolving into a local news broadcast.

_\--not sure what's happening now, but witnesses report there were at least three separate explosions._ The reporter flinched as something far behind them combusted. _Based on the descriptions, we are able to report that the instigator was Doctor Olivia Octavius, perhaps better known as the villain--_

"Doctor Octopus," May said. 

"What?" Miles exclaimed. "But she got hit by a train or something in the collider!"

May sighed. "Always check for the body, kid," she explained. "Otherwise, they just keep popping up."

***

_"Liv?" May looked around the garage--it was set up as a tinkerer's lab, with a few workbenches, a wall of doo-dads, and a welder's outfit in the corner. May had only visited a couple of times, but Liv had missed their movie night, which she almost never did._

_The room was empty, but then May heard a strange clatter. "Liv?" She made her way to the wall of thingamabobs and saw a thin crack of light shining at the side. "What?" She traced a finger against it, then something clicked and the wall retracted to reveal a staircase._

_May ventured forth, and the rattles and clangs grew louder. She reached the end of the staircase and jumped when a man flew back to slam against the wall beside her._

_"Ow," he said. He stood up, which gave May an opportunity to see the gear he was wearing--a light exoskeleton, with one arm ending in a set a wicked-looking claws. "Lucky shot," he called out, before he noticed May. His stance changed, making May aware of how tall he was compared to her. "Doc?"_

_There was a loud whirring sound, and then around a corner snaked a thick coil attached to an industrial clamp. Then two. Then--_

_"Liv?" May whispered as the full apparatus appeared, one she'd only seen on a television screen. "Oh my god."_

_Doctor Octopus's feet thumped to the ground as she saw her._

***

May returned from the house with a tray of sandwiches. "I hope you like turkey, Miles--" She stopped as the platform slowed and revealed Miles sitting at the main console, hurriedly wiping his eyes. "Miles, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said. He swiped the back of his sleeve against his face again. "I was just looking at Peter's files."

May set the tray down, peering at the screen in front of him. Miles had been scrolling through the database she called, "persons of interest" and Peter had called, "the jerkwad list."

On the screen, a familiar figure: Looming, purple and black, arms ending in a wicked set of claws. "Prowler." The exoskeleton design had advanced far past what May had seen that first night in the garage. 

"My uncle," Miles said. "Aaron." He sat forward, shoulders hunched. "I never got to ask him about why--"

May rested a hand on Miles's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Miles." 

"I don't get it," he responded. "I thought I knew him, you know? I thought he was a good guy."

"Maybe he was," May replied. "People are complicated." 

"I don't get it," he repeated, but this time he grabbed a sandwich for himself. "How come I didn't know?"

May pulled a chair over and sat. "Let me tell you a story, kid."

**Author's Note:**

> Title and summary adapted from [What's Up Danger](https://youtu.be/XXkwJupqoJA) by Blackway.


End file.
